


A Drop of Ink: Prologue Part Two

by Adurna_Sandburg



Series: A Drop of Ink [2]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Even More Body Horror, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Flashbacks, Meet the Family, Mentions of miscarriage, Next stop...emotional support central, Nightmares, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pretty minor OCs come to think of it...except Trevor...he's always around, Still alive, What am I doing?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-05-15 23:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14800250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adurna_Sandburg/pseuds/Adurna_Sandburg
Summary: The journey continues filled with highs and lows. Some find happiness and others sorrow. Past actions have consequences that change the futures of everyone. Joey is still a redeemable jerk surprisingly.





	1. You Gotta Live a Little

**Author's Note:**

> So here I am and here is the next part. Yeah! I am very sorry it took so long to get out, but school will always come first for me.

* * *

“Joey...what is this?”

“This is the result of my latest experiment!”

“...”

“Joey?”

“Yea?”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to find out what it’s like to be a searcher for a day. Of course, I can’t do it myself. Someone has to keep this place running.”

Sammy buried his face in his hands while Norman snickered in the corner. They had both come looking for the studio’s lyricist, Jack Fain. They had been told the last time anyone had seen him, he was headed towards Joey’s office.

That had immediately raised a few red flags. They had hurriedly knocked on the door before bursting in to find Joey talking to a large searcher with a bowler hat on its head. It didn’t take long for them to figure out what had happened.

“Joey, how am I supposed to get the next episode’s songs done with our lyricist like this?!”

“You know I’m right here?”

Sammy jumped back in surprise as Jack spoke up before banging his head against his hand.

“Why do I have to deal with this crap?”

Norman smirked before looking at Joey.

“So I take it you asked Jack if he wanted to be a searcher for the day and he agreed. Thus our present situation?”

Joey blinked before grinning.

“Yep, that’s about it!”

“So, how the heck did you even turn him into a searcher?” muttered Sammy.

Joey just kept grinning in response. Sammy turned to Jack.

“Do you know what he did?”

“Nah, he knocked me out before doing whatever he did. It's actually been really interesting so far. Being a searcher and all.”

Sammy pinched his nose.

“Fine, I can work with this. Jack, you are coming with me so the rest of the studio doesn’t freak out about getting turned into searchers. There’s enough weird crap going on around here anyway. We don’t need anymore to deal with.”

“That’s fine.” Jack agreed.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” said Norman as he walked out the corner he had been hanging out in.

“Joey, just don’t do anything else today. Just stay at your desk and work on paperwork _please_.”

“No promises.” he said cheekily. “Oh and Jack?”

“Yea?”

“You should be back to normal self by the end of the day.”

“Thank goodness!” yelled Sammy as he headed into the hall with Norman and Jack right behind him.

 

Most of the band members were off having lunch so sneaking Jack into the music department without being seen was relatively easy. If anyone asked where he was, it was resolved to tell them that he was at home sick.

It was decided that the best place was Jack to be for the day was in Sammy’s sanctuary. As Sammy was busy playing the instruments to open the sanctuary door, Norman got a little curious.

“So, how’s it feel?”

Jack appeared to be thinking for a moment before answering.

“Goopy I guess. It’s kinda hard to describe. Moving around is really hard though. Having to crawl everywhere sucks.”

Norman cocked his head as he considered Jack’s words.

“Why did you agree to this Jack?”

Now Jack looked thoughtful.

“Well, you know I like working where it's quiet and the searchers are pretty quiet so I thought I would try hanging out with them for a while to get some ideas for some new lyrics. I have also just always been curious about what it's like to be one of them.”

Sammy came back over from opening the door.

“So basically you have writer's block and want to test an age-old expression. Sound about right?”

Jack managed to look sheepish as they headed inside the room. Alex was already there sitting in the room reading a book.

“Greetings cakesniffers.”

Sammy groaned while Norman chuckled.

“What the heck is a cakesniffer and why is Alex in here?” questioned Jack.

“Please don't make me explain it again and Alex managed to piss off Shawn earlier with their puns so they’re hiding here until he cools off.”

Norman grinned with a prideful look in his eyes. Alex just grinned cheekily.

“There's no hope left.” Sammy groaned as he saw their expressions.

Jack smirked before crawling over to where Alex was.

“You look simply smashing in black I must say. Nice hat by the way.”

“Thanks, I stole it from the president.”

This time Jack smirked while Alex just raised an eyebrow before smiling knowingly.

“Are you sure it's a good idea to leave them here together for hours?” muttered Sammy.

“Of course.” Norman said as he cackled and left the room.

“God help me.”

With that, Sammy left knowing that this was one of his worst ideas ever.

 

The band members slowly trickled back into the band room as Sammy ate his lunch with Norman up in the projector booth.

“You're enjoying this aren't you?”

“Anytime I get a front seat to see your suffering is a great day in my book.”

Silence ensued.

“Good thing you suffer with me then.”

Norman smiled at the statement as he finished up his sandwich.

“I guess you're ready to conduct the band then?”

“More like ready to herd cats. You saw how they were earlier. They were asking me if mustard was an instrument. I mean, I guess it could be if you had the proper training.”

Sammy clawed at his hair as he ranted while Norman enjoyed every second of it.

“I going to go get you some more coffee. You sound like you’re going to need it.”

“Yea, that sounds - Jeremy! How many times do I have to tell you! Reeds are not to be used as toothpicks and Martha, get off the chair! They are for your bum only!”

Norman hurried down the stairs and off to the coffee maker amid the yelling. Maybe he should grab two just in case.

 

“So…how's life?”

“I’m still existing so it's decent.”

“....”

“You?”

“Pretty good I guess.”

Silence followed. The sound of a page turning echoed in the room. Jack started humming. Soon it turned into full-blown singing.

 

Wallowin’ in this darkness,

Slavin’ the day away,

 

Wasn't what I pictured,

That it’d be this way,

 

Pluckin’ words from thin air,

Lettin’ 'em flow from my mind,

 

Like the ink that covers me,

Filled with bounce and bitter rhyme…

 

His voice faded away as he started to think of more lyrics to add to the song.

“That was good.”

“Oh...well, thank you.”

“In fact, it was music to my ears. You just couldn't beat it. Though you ran into treble at the end and left me on a clefhanger.”

Jack groaned. He was reminded of why he avoided Alex and Norman often. Their legendary sass and the puns and jokes. Especially the puns. Alex grinned and put their book down.

“Mind if I join in?”

Jack looked shocked before recovering.

“Um, sure, I just thought of the next verse. Let's repeat the first one and then follow my lead.”

Alex nodded before joining in. Their singing blended together splendidly and Jack smiled. This, this is what he had been looking for.

 

Sammy and Norman came by later to find Alex and a human Jack talking and laughing with each other. The walls of the sanctuary had been partially covered in song lyrics.

It was not surprising since Jack was involved. He left no room untouched. Not even Joey's office had been spared. Sammy sighed.

“I see you two had fun. I am also extremely relieved to see you back to normal Jack.”

“It's good to be back though I will say it was a very interesting experience.”

Sammy nodded at his words.

“By the way Alex, you can come out now. Shawn has promised not to come after you as long as you leave him alone for the rest of the week.”

Alex perked up at the news before smirking.

“He didn't say anything about pranks did he?”

“No, I don't believe so. We shall have a meeting to address that issue after this.” Norman said with his eyes lighting up.

Sammy looked at him warily before grabbing Jack’s hand and dragging him out of the room.

“Hey! Where are we going?!”

“Away from these two. We’ve both been contaminated enough for one day. We got songs to write anyways.”

Jack sighed and waved goodbye to Alex as he disappeared around the corner. Norman motioned for Alex to follow him. They had pranks to plan. Thus ended another normal day at Joey Drew Studios, at least until Joey found some other crap to pull.


	2. There May Be Hope Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord, this one took forever to write. I've been working on it all summer and I am happy to finally present to you guys the finished product. I personally don't think it's my best work, but I am as happy as I am going to get with it. Thank you for the continued support guys! It means the world to me.
> 
> Oh by the way, if you guys ever want to bother me or something, I did make a Tumblr specifically for that.  
> Here's the link: https://adurna-sandburg.tumblr.com  
> You don't have to say hi if you don't want to, but I'm just a lonely writer these days.

_He ran as fast as he could. His heart rate skyrocketed and it thudded in his ears. Faster and faster. He had to get away! Be anywhere, but here! Darkness seemed to leak into the very fabric of the world around him. No, not darkness, ink. Ink that slowly overtook his surroundings completely. It covered the very ground he was running for his life on. It becomes harder to move. He was beginning to sink. He wasn't sinking though. He was melting. He was…_

Henry came to tangled up in his sheets in a cold sweat. His eyes darted to and fro, his grip digging into the mattress. _Where am I? Where am I? Where am I?_

His thoughts swirled in his head like a hurricane. His door slowly creaked open and Trevor poked his head in. His gaze rested on Henry immediately. He quietly and slowly stepped through the doorway.

“Henry.”

Henry jerked his head towards Trevor. He had his focus now.

“Henry, I am here.”

Trevor crept closer to the bed with his hands up. Eventually, he reached the edge.

“I am goin' ta sit down now.”

Henry's expression seemed slightly calmer now. Trevor sat down on the bed and carefully placed his hand on Henry's.

“It's goin' ta be okay.”

Black tears began leaking from Henry's eyes.

“May I touch ya?”

Henry nodded in an adagio manner. Trevor tentatively reached towards Henry and started rubbing circles on his back. Silent tears slid down Henry's cheeks. They stayed that way for a while. Henry fell asleep with Trevor still rubbing his back.

Trevor eventually moved to the chair in the corner. He too fell asleep. This process had been going on for several months now. Sometimes it was Trevor who was there for Henry and sometimes it was Henry who was there for Trevor. Usually, it was multiple times a night. This time it was Trevor's turn.

 _He was drawing. Drawing shapes, lines. Drawing_ like _his life depended on it. He didn't know why, but paper after paper found its way into his hands. He would sketch and outline until he was finished and the paper would fall into the dark abyss beneath him. Suddenly he looked up. Henry was standing in front of him. He reached out towards him, but he melted. Into a dark, inky puddle. And he couldn't stop it. He tried…_

This time it was Henry who approached Trevor and comforted him. Such a vicious cycle. Something needed to change. They couldn't go on like this. Other things started happening. They had to shut away any bottles of clear liquid and it took Henry a while not to be set off by seeing water coming from a faucet.

For Trevor, it was pens and inkwells. He forced himself to get used to them again, but so many times Henry found himself comforting him after a particularly bad bout of flashbacks. They were both trying their best to deal with everything, but it getting to be too much.

Another problem they had was getting Henry used to food again. They found out the hard way one day when Henry tried to eat a sandwich. He had mainly been eating ink up to that point and maybe a morsel or two, but that had been it. Eating a whole sandwich had not been the best idea.

 

Henry regretted trying to make himself a sandwich and eating it. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could still eat normally. Here he was though, throwing up a mixture of ink and the remains of the undigested sandwich into a trash can.

He heard footsteps coming up behind him. The person began rubbing his back as he continued to retch into the trash can. Henry coughed a bit as he finished and slowly tried to stand up. He felt himself being supported as he did so and looked up to see Trevor looking at him with concern. He smiled weakly at him in response.

Trevor led Henry over to a chair at the kitchen table before helping him sit down. He then headed deeper into the house only to return a few minutes with something in his hand. He placed it in front of Henry. Henry looked at it. It was an inkwell full of ink. He sighed.

He had been fed normal food for a while before the Nazis started to giving him less and less of that and replaced it with ink. He had thought that maybe he could eat normally now that he was back home, but it seemed as if that was no longer possible for him.

Henry looked at the inkwell hungrily. He wanted to drink it as ink had become something of a staple to him and was pleasing to his tongue. Resigning himself to his fate, he grabbed the inkwell and began to swallow its contents under Trevor's watchful gaze.

The taste was pleasant and had him licking the inside of the inkwell when he reached the bottom of it. Not to mention it helped settle his stomach after the sandwich incident. Henry looked up at Trevor shyly as he finished it off finally.

“Um, thanks for um, everything.” muttered Henry feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Any time Henry, I’m always here ta help.” replied Trevor.

Henry nodded and started to get up.

“Oh, no ya don't Henry. Ya stay right there while I get ya some more ink.”

Trevor pushed Henry back into the chair and headed off to get another inkwell.

Henry sighed again. Sometimes Trevor could be such a mother hen.

 

After the sandwich incident, they both agreed that it was time to give Edward a call to see if he could help with Henry's eating problems, their flashbacks, and all the nightmares.

Trevor was the one selected to call Edward as Henry had won the (13th) coin toss. He watched the conversation from beside Trevor though and was currently tapping his foot in a most helpful way.

“Henry.”

“What?”

“Will ya stop that?”

“What?”

“...”

“Really what?”

“I’ve no words.”

He finally stopped tapping.

“Thank ya.” Trevor muttered.

“For what?” Henry asked innocently.

Trevor just looked at Henry for a moment and sighed. He began dialing Edward's number. It took a few rings before someone answered.

“Hello? This is the Barton’s resident. How may I help your wayward butt find its way to the right side of life?”

“...”

“Hello? Is your butt still lost? I can...Erin! Give me the phone! You don't ever answer it like that! I am so sorry, my daughter got a hold of the phone and...are you still there?”

“Hello Edward, is ya butt lost ta?”

“Trevor?”

“Yep, it's me. How are ya?”

“Um, I am doing well. No lost butts over here...anyways how are you? Is everything okay?”

“No, I wish it was, but it's not. Look, we’ve been havin’ some problems 'round here. Not with butts mind ya ‘cause we don't need no stinkin’ butts. We’ve been dealin’ with some flashbacks and nightmares. It keeps gettin’ worse and worse. Henry also can't eat anythin’, but ink. He threw up a sandwich he made the other day. I know these areas may not be ya specialty, but can ya help us? Please.”

“...I'll be right over. It might take me an hour or two to get there, but I will be there as soon as I can.”

“Thank ya Edward! Thank ya so much!”

“You're welcome. See you soon Trevor. Don't lose your butt.”

Trevor snickered at the statement before hanging up. Once again, they were lucky. Nobody had been using the line when they went to call Edward and no one had picked up and listened in on the conversation.

“I expect ya heard at least some of that Henry?”

“Yea, do you really think he'll be able to help?”

Henry couldn't keep the hope out of his voice. He just wanted some kind of solace to rest in.

“I really hope so Henry. I really hope so. It's about time we all stopped hurtin’.”

 

Edward, true to his word, showed up at their doorstep a few hours later. They gratefully showed him in. Henry led him to the living room while Trevor grabbed refreshments.

He brought drinks from the kitchen and Edward decided not to comment on Henry's “black tea.” After they all had settled in, Edward decided to ask a few questions.

“So from what I heard on the phone, you guys have been dealing with flashbacks and nightmares am I right?”

It was Henry who answered.

“Yea, the flashbacks kept getting caused by certain things for each of us. It was getting pretty bad so we’ve managed to force ourselves to get used to them and to not cause flashbacks. Most of the time at least.”

“Most of the time?”

“Sometimes we relapse. It doesn't happen often, but...yea, it's not exactly a walk in the park.”

“I would imagine so. What about these nightmares?”

“Well, it's just been getting worse and worse. We’re not getting enough sleep, we’re exhausted. Every night we get them and every night we have to help from each other just to get back to sleep! It's ridiculous!”

Trevor decided to add in his two cents.

“We're just wantin’ ta get a good night's rest is all.”

Edward twiddled his thumbs for a moment.

“Okay, let me make this clear, I am dealing with these problems first, then I am going to see what I can do about Henry's eating disorder. Capisce?”

They both gave murmurs of agreement.

“Alright, good. Now, from the sound of it, you guys already got the flashbacks handled mainly. You don't need my help there. Just keep doing what you're doing in that department and you’ll be fine. The nightmares, however, are a whole other story. You guys sound like you're going to need something for that.”

“Need somethin’? As in medication?”

“Exactly. Now in the last few years, there’s been some new medicines discovered to help treat conditions such as yours. The one in particular I am talking about is called Thorazine. It helps people relax. Personally, I think you both should start taking it before you guys go to bed. Hopefully, it will help your bodies relax more and you will sleep better.”

“Okay, how do get something like that anyway though? Wouldn't we need to visit a psychiatrist? Also, does this drug have any side effects we should be worried about?”

Edward was about to answer his questions when Trevor added one of his.

“How do ya know about all this stuff anyway?”

Edward chuckled.

“My brother is a psychiatrist. We like to chat all the time and he’s been talking my ear off about all the new discoveries they’ve been making lately. He can help you out. I trust him with my life and if you go and visit him, I know he will help you. He won't tell a soul about your condition Henry either. Just tell him I sent you and that I think you guys are developing gross stress reaction. As for side effects, nothing too bad. Maybe some dry mouth, constipation, or dizziness.”

“Gross stress reaction?”

“You’ve probably heard it called by other names before, battle fatigue, combat exhaustion, shell shock. Whatever you know it by, these days the APA finally saw fit to give it an official name, gross stress reaction in their first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-I.”

“I’m just gonna pretend I understood all of that last part. You get any of that Henry?”

“The diagnostic what?”

“I'll take that as a no.”

Edward raised an eyebrow before shaking his head.

“Anyways, I will leave you with my brother’s info. On to your other issue. From what I know, you believe you're becoming a…what was it? A living cartoon I believe?”

“Yea, I guess that's the best way of putting it.” Henry remarked bitterly.

“He has mixed feelings on the subject.” Trevor added.

“Okay, well, since I have no idea how you ended in such a state in the first place and this isn't exactly something that I usually deal with, I can only offer theories.”

“We’ll take just about anythin’ right now.”

“Am I right in guessing that this has been a progressive condition correct?”

“Yep, it started out on my fingers and toes, but it's claimed my whole limbs now.”

“Good, going off of that, I would say that while you seem to have slowed down the process, you have not completely stopped it. It's been a while since I’ve seen you and you haven't changed much so I am assuming that as well. In conclusion, I think you're probably going to be eating ink for a long time to come as your body needs the ink to fuel the development. That is unless you find a way to reverse it.”

Henry frowned at the news.

“I will say this though. I have heard that you can still eat a small bit of normal food. My guess is that if you slowly increase the amount of it you take in, you’ll regain the ability to eat regular food. You got to take it slow though. No rushing it or you’ll throw up like you did the other day.”

“I’m glad to hear that at least.”

“Cheer up Henry! Maybe I can make ya an ink sandwich lata!”

Henry facepalmed while Edward laughed. The conversation took a more lighthearted direction after that. They joked, exchanged stories, and enjoyed themselves. Soon it was time for Edward to leave.

He gave them his brother's info and reassured them he would give him a heads up. They both bid him goodbye and he quickly pulled out of the driveway and headed home. Henry said he would call Edward's brother tomorrow and Trevor said that was fine with him.

It felt as if a bit of the weight they had come with home from the war had been lifted off their shoulders. They had hope now. They had a chance to heal.


	3. On Modelly Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! I am actually posting a new one shot and three months haven't passed yet. Yeah! Anyways, thank you for the lovely comments you've all been leaving. They really make my day whenever I see them. I hope you enjoy the newest addition!
> 
> P.S. I added a link to my tumblr on the last one shot I posted a long time after I posted it so I guess I will put it here too.  
> https://adurna-sandburg.tumblr.com  
> Drop by if you so wish or not at all. Either way, I am still just a crazyheaded writer.

Everyone had been pushing for it since Boris was brought to life, especially Susie and Allison. Boris's welcome had been a little less anticipated compared to Bendy's, but was still a joyous occasion.

Joey had painstakingly worked on the drawings with input from several people. He had sought out Henry's old drawings and descriptions of Bendy for the little devil and he himself had contributed the first time around.

For Boris, Joey had asked people like Sammy, Wally, and Norman for input. He had started with putting out a suggestion box so the whole studio could contribute. Sadly, all he got was mainly silly suggestions like dressing Boris up as a sandwich and dancing the jitterbug. He had taken down the suggestion box after that.

Joey had heard everyone's pleas (Susie's and Allison's) and was now working on Alice. He was currently in his office trying his best to get it done when two of his _favorite_ people barged into the room.

“Joey! How's it going with Alice?”

“Susie, how many times do I have to tell you…”

He never got to finish as Allison decided to barge into the conversation.

“Mr. Drew! Is Alice ready yet?”

Joey dropped his head onto his desk and groaned. Both women continued to look him expectantly. Joey turned his head and glared at them.

“First of all, call me Joey. The only reason Norman doesn't is because he insists on being formal as heck and Alex is a lost cause ever since I made the lovely decision to put those two together. None of this Mr. Drew whatnot. You make me feel old. Second, you guys were here just ten minutes ago. I've been keeping track.”

Joey lifted up a piece of paper filled with various dates and times. Susie and Allison looked a bit sheepish once they saw it. Joey sighed.

“I will have her done by my lunch break. How's that sound?”

“Peachy!” Susie and Allison chorused at the same time before running out of the room together.

Joey shivered. That had been creepy. Not that long ago, Susie's voice had given out one day. She had brought in Allison, her younger sister, to take her place. Turns out they sounded similar enough that it worked, but it was like having another Norman and Alex situation around.

In the end, Allison became another member of the studio and she and Susie would trade off with playing Alice Angel. Not to mention she was married too and she and Susie would talk all the time about what being married was like and comparing husbands. They were just really loud about it.

Groaning once more, Joey got back to drawing. He would need to finish up soon lest he be bothered by the two fanatics again.

 

Meanwhile, an excited Susie and Allison were chatting.

“I can't wait to meet her in person and show her around the studio!”

“I know right! It's going to be nice having another girl around here too!”

“Honestly, I love Sammy and the rest of them, but it is such a relief to have you around and Lacie. I don't see her that much though.”

“Same, I've been meaning to swing by and say hi, but either she’s busy or I'm busy.”

“Yea, I've only been able to talk to her once or twice. She's a little rough around the edges, but very nice. Did you hear that Matthew is out sick today?”

“Yea, I hope he feels better. Wanna drop off some soup later with me?”

“I would love to Susie!”

Suddenly a scream of pure horror rang out through the studio.

“What the heck was that? The cries of the damned?!” exclaimed Allison.

“No, that was Sammy mourning the loss of the coffee percolator.” remarked Susie.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Maybe in a year or two. It’s debatable. He might need therapy.”

They looked at each other and giggled.

“What happened to the coffee percolator anyway?” asked Allison.

“Marmalade.” provided Susie.

“Marmalade?”

“Marmalade.”

Whose fault?”

“Bendy's.”

“Bendy's?”

“Bendy's.”

Another heartbroken cry echoed through the studio.

“We should probably go help Sam Sam.”

“Yea…race you there?”

“Heck yea, watch out for Wally's bucket!”

Susie took off down one hallway and Allison down another. Susie dodged Thomas and Searcher as she ran around a corner while Allison hopped over a mopping Wally and his bucket. Several yells were heard behind them as they progressed their way through the studio. They skidded into the breakroom at the same time.

Sammy was crying in the corner while Norman and Jack patted his back. The coffee percolator was on the counter beside the small stove leaking an orange gel-like fluid and making sad coffee noises. It was truly a sight to behold.

“You brought the coffee right?”

“Yep, you brought the spare percolator right?”

“Yep, let’s do this.”

Together, they got another batch of coffee going while they quietly laughed their heads off every time they heard Sammy sob. Some things that happened on the studio were honestly comedy gold.

As soon as it was finished, Susie poured a mugful of coffee and wordlessly handed it to Allison who pressed it into Sammy's hands. That day marked the inclusion of Allison into the unsung heroes hall of fame of Joey Drew Studios. Sammy's wails were once again quieted allowing everyone to finally breathe a little easier.

 

After recording some new lines for one of the episodes, Susie joined Allison for lunch in the breakroom where they had been earlier. It was like fate as foretold by their fate books of fate.

Susie pulled the sandwich out of her paper bag along with her apple. Allison pulled out a sandwich too along with another apple. They each looked at the other’s lunch and burst out into chortles.

“So you had the same idea I did?” commented Allison as she tried to stifle her laughter.

“Ham and swiss with a red delicious?” questioned Susie while smiling.

“You better believe it.”

They clinked their coffee mugs together before tucking into their respective meals. Silence reigned for a few minutes before Susie decided to start up the conversation again.

“You know...I really missed seeing you.”

Allison took a bite out of her sandwich and swallowed before replying.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...I didn’t get to see you very often is all before you started working at the studio. I know we were really close when we were younger and then we had that fight…” Susie murmured.

“Susie, you don’t need to worry about that anymore! I got over that a long time ago.” said Allison as she tried to assure her sister.

“I know, but I just got so jealous when you got the part even after they said I was going to get it. I just felt so betrayed and hurt and I was just so... _horrible_ towards you.” Susie blurted out.

Allison quickly put down her lunch and stood up before storming over to her older sister.

“There will be none of that! I told you I have already moved past the issue. It’s time you did too!”

“But I…”

Susie was cut off as Allison engulfed her in a hug.

“Oh shush you big silly billy. You’re my sister. I don’t know what the heck you’re thinking, but I will never stop loving you. Get some sense in that thick head of yours. You’ve been forgiven, I love you, and you need to stop acting like a sodden cat.”

Susie had started crying partway through and began wiping away her tears as Allison let her go. She giggled at the last part of Allison’s sentence.

“You know, you’re a pretty awesome sister Li’l Al.”

Allison blushed crimson at the nickname.

“I told you to never call me that again! Don’t say it again or someone might hear you!”

“Fine, fine, I won’t say it anymore...Li’l Al.”

Allison lightly punched Susie in the shoulder.

“You’re such a jerk sometimes.”

“I know. Now let’s finish our lunch and get back to work.”

The rest of the lunch period progressed with the two of them trading jokes and stories to pass the time. Both sisters were happy to spend time with each other once again and to let old matters lie. As they were cleaning up, Wally waltzed into the breakroom.

“Hey gals, Joey just wanted me to let you know to head over to the ink machine room as soon as you've finished here.”

Both women screamed with joy as they rushed to finish cleaning up even more quickly than before. Soon they were rushing out of the room and down the hall. They never noticed the smirk that Wally wore.

“So Li’l Al eh?” drawled Wally. “I wonder what’s the story behind that nickname.”

He whistled to himself as he left the breakroom to join the others.

 

The whole studio gathered once more in the ink machine room with large bouts of chattering breaking out from the group. Several people were rather excited about the occasion, others not so much.

“Do you think she’ll be nice Boris?”

Bendy looked a tad nervous about the whole affair. Boris looked down at Bendy who was sitting in the chair that he was standing beside. He paused for a moment before grinning a bit.

“I don’t know Bendy, maybe she’ll be a real meanie like you.”

“You think? You know...Hey!”

Boris chuckled and patted Bendy between his horns as he pouted.

“Don’t worry Bendo, you’re a little mischievous, but not a meanie.”

Bendy looked up at Boris for a moment. He suddenly reached out and booped Boris’s nose causing a squeaking sound. Bendy grinned and hopped out of his chair and ran across the room towards Shawn, Norman, and Alex.

Boris looked as if he was about to go after him for a moment before deciding not to. He headed over to talk to Sammy and Jack about the clarinet piece that they were helping him write.

The wolf had randomly shown up outside Sammy’s office a few months ago asking for help on how to write his own music. Sammy and Jack had been thrilled to teach him. Meanwhile, Bendy had discovered Norman’s and Alex’s love for puns and jokes.

The twosome had quickly grown to a threesome. Their group had become something to beware in the studio unless you wanted to be pelted with horrible witticisms and quips. Surprisingly, Shawn had shown that he could appreciate a good joke and could sometimes be found hanging out around them as well.

Honestly though, it was all to be expected knowing their characters. Soon however, a hush fell over the room. Joey had arrived. Joey looked around at the gathered employees and raised an eyebrow at the sudden silence.

“Well don’t stop on account of me, I know I look stunning, but you all don’t have to stare like that.”

A few snickers were heard along with a few groans. Joey just smiled in reply before it dimmed a bit. He wished Henry was here to see this. To everyone’s collective relief, the man had started sending letters again. He let them know he was safe and sound and was with friends.

The mention of friends had raised several questions though most just thought it was just some people Henry had met during the war. He seemed oddly distant though. He refused any of the visits that they had offered him and said he didn’t want to come back to the studio for the time being. He said he had some things he needed to work through.

Everyone had sent letters back expressing the fact that while they didn’t like that idea, they would respect his wishes. Joey thought back to the pile of crumpled paper spilling out of his wastebasket and to the half-finished letter on his desk. He just didn’t know what to say. He had tried to write that he was sorry, but it wasn’t _enough_. It felt so _wrong_. Joey frowned at the thought.

No one had told Henry about Bendy, Boris, or the searchers yet either. More searchers had started appearing as time went on. They weren’t sure if it was because Wally and Thomas were getting lazier or someone had missed a spot somewhere a while back. The jury was still out on the matter. Truthfully, Joey wasn’t really sure what he wanted to say anymore anyway.

“Joey? Are you okay?”

Joey’s head jerked up and caught sight of Susie looking at him in concern.

“Oh! I am perfectly fine! Just got my head in the clouds there for a moment!” Joey reassured while plastering a wide grin on his face.

Susie didn’t look convinced, but let him be.

“If you say so Joey.” murmured Susie while stepping out of his way.

Joey cleared throat and straightened the papers in his hands before addressing the room. More than a few people in the room were looking at him like Susie had.

“I assure all of you that I am doing just fine. With that out of the way, I think we all know why we are here. We’re about to welcome another dear friend into our studio! I know many of you have been waiting _very patiently_ for this.”

Joey glanced at Susie and Allison who just whistled and looked at their nails nonchalantly.

“Without further adieu, let’s move on to the main event!”

Joey strode towards the ink machine which had been lowered like the other times for easier access. He looked down at the papers in his hands and felt warmth bloom in his chest. He couldn’t wait to get to know Alice in person. If only Henry could as well.

Joey shoved the last thought away and started inserting the papers. Before he knew it, all of them were in. The ink machine churned away and began its work. Breaths were held and eyes were locked onto its spigot. Ink soon emerged and began forming into a figure just like it had for Bendy and Boris. A dress, limbs, a face, horns, and finally a halo appeared.

A fully formed Alice gazed around the room with wonder in her eyes. Everyone in the room looked right back at her with joy and awe. It never failed to astound them that something like a cartoon could be brought to life before their eyes. She waved shyly and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Hello, my name is Alice Angel.”

Bendy and Boris had literal stars in their eyes as they ran straight towards Alice. They quickly introduced themselves and tried to make her feel right at home. Joey smiled at the sight. Susie and Allison approached next and introduced themselves. They were both surprised when Alice gave them hugs.

Soon everyone was greeting the new arrival. Joey remained on the sidelines for a moment longer before heading over to join the fun. His only wish was that Henry could be here to see this too.

His thoughts returned to the unfinished letter on his desk. He shook his head. Best to focus on the present. He could think about that later. For now, he needed to stay here where he belonged. With that, he squared his shoulders and welcomed their newest member with a beaming smile and a warm hug. Everything was as it should be.


	4. Just Out of Reach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Been about a month so not bad timing wise I guess. I know I already said something about this on Tumblr, but I will make a quick note here as well. I have seen how the game ends and I have already decided how I want to end this story based on that. It will be one that is rather different from canon. Now, will everything go smoothly for Henry and friends between now and then? Not exactly. If you want to see my other announcements on some things, you are welcome to check out the post I made on my Tumblr. One more thing to cover. As you guys may have noticed, I don't do cursing. Now, I will say, though I automatically censor it, some of the characters do curse in this story. I just choose to portray it with non-curse words. From this one shot on, one character's cursing will be portrayed differently. You'll see what I mean once you read the one shot. Anyways, thank you so much for the comments and kudos guys! It really makes my day. I hope you guys enjoy this! Have a great day!

There came a day that Henry dreaded would come. The day that signaled that his time as a human was coming to a close. He woke up one morning to find as he was putting on his shirt that the ink had spread its influence.

His lower sides and abdomen were beginning to develop white and gray areas. His shoulders were showing similar signs where they met his trunk. Even in the middle of his chest and the small of his back, white and gray coloration had bloomed. He quickly shoved his shirt down over it.

_Just better if I don't think about it._

He walked out of his room and into the kitchen. He had regained the ability to eat small meals after allowing his body to become used to it again, but all he seemed to crave these days anyways was ink. He suspected that his consumption of the liquid was what fueled his transformation, but he couldn't bring himself to stop consuming it.

A mix of taste and hunger made sure no such thoughts ever crossed his mind and if they did, they were rapidly chased away. Resigning himself to his fate, Henry walked down the hall and into the kitchen to start making some breakfast. Trevor tended to sleep late and would be up in maybe a few minutes or so.

Henry hummed along with a tune in his head before starting to whistle it out loud. Little ink music notes appeared in front of his lips as he cracked some eggs over a frying pan much to his surprise. He almost dropped one of the eggs, but decided to just ignore the occurrence. Henry stopped whistling though.

He popped some bread into the toaster and put a few pieces of bacon into another frying pan on the stove. A few minutes later, breakfast was finished. He put the toast, bacon, and eggs on a plate and put it on the table with a glass of orange juice.

Next, he got some silverware and a napkin and set it down beside the plate. He put all of the other dishes in the sink knowing that Trevor would clean them and put them up.

Finally, Henry went over to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of ink from one of the shelves. He snagged a cup from the cupboards and poured the ink into it. He then put the bottle in the sink to wash and reuse later. He finally sat down at the table and began sipping his ink as Trevor finally stumbled into the room.

He slumped down into his chair and blearily looked around. Henry raised a gloved hand and waved at him. Trevor waved back sleepily. Henry tried not to laugh at his antics before taking another draught from his cup.

They sat there in each other's company, the only noises were Trevor's chewing and Henry's occasional sips. For them, it was a nice quiet morning best spent in the company of others. Henry honestly didn't want to ruin the “moment,” but he had to say something as Trevor finished his meal.

“Trevor, I think it's getting worse.”

Trevor froze at his words as he was about to get up from the table. He quickly sat back down.

“Why do ya say that?”

Henry put down his mug and paused. He stood up and reached towards the buttons of his shirt. He silently undid them before slipping his arms out of the sleeves.

“This is why.”

Trevor blinked as he got a good look at Henry's torso.

“...That would do it. Geez Henry, when did ya first see this?”

“...This morning…I thought we had fixed this…”

Trevor looked at Henry with a sad smile.

“We both know that ain't true.”

Henry laughed bitterly at his words before chugging down the rest of his ink.

“Who am I kidding...it was always going to be this way no matter what we did. Guess it's just my fate huh…”

Trevor sighed.

“Look, at the time, we did what we could. We tried to fix what we could. As far as we knew, we had fixed it, but there was also the very real possibility that we didn't. It was never said, but we both knew.”

“You're right Trevor, you're so right…I'm... I'm going to go be alone for a while. I need some time to think.”

Henry dropped his mug into the sink and grabbed his shirt on the way out as he headed to his room. Trevor took note of the coloration of his friend’s back before looking away. He just didn't know what to do anymore.

 

Henry sat on his bed. He placed his hands where his knees would have been. He had hoped, he had hoped _so badly_ that it would stop, that it was taken care of. _That he had nothing else to worry about._  Gosh, why couldn't life stop throwing crap at him like this?

It was bad enough to be dragged into a war he didn't want to fight, but then to be tortured for something your _best friend_ did? That did it! His hands curled into fists. Was it too much to ask to just be left alone for once? Apparently so because now _this_ was happening. Henry deflated after a moment.

In the end, it wasn't the most horrible fate to befall him. Becoming a living cartoon was probably better than...well, a lot of things. He could live with becoming a toon. He could accept that. Might take him a bit longer, but it was doable, but Joey...dagnabbit Joey. Why, why did he have to go and do this to him?

Oh, this hadn't been the first time that Joey had roped him into one of his plans without his consent(or used him as one of his subjects). Far from it. He just...he had never taken it this far. It was as if an unspoken line that had always been present had been crossed. Joey had always been Joey and Henry loved him just the way he was.

This time though, this time Joey had gone too far. So what was he supposed to do though? He remembered having similar thoughts a few years ago in a dismal room in a POW camp. Henry rubbed his hands together in thought.

He could either punch Joey the next time he saw him and cut ties with him forever or be his usual forgiving self that was too kind for his own good. Or maybe, maybe he could do something else. With that in mind, he nodded to himself.

He had finally reached a decision that put him at ease for _that_ particular matter. Time to figure out how to accept the fact that he was changing species. He decided to sleep on it quite literally, but that was harder said than done.

 

 _Henry giggled as he clutched the water-filled balloon._ _Any second now and then he would strike. Trevor eventually turned the corner just a moment later._ _Henry gleefully seized his chance and lobed the projectile at Trevor._ _It hit him right in the kisser._ _He stood there dripping for a second before speaking._

_“Henry?”_

_“You rang?” answered Henry as he laughed_

_“As much as I love a good prank, I don't like bein’ wet.”_

_Henry just grinned and handed him a towel. Trevor_ _rolled his eyes and wiped off his dripping face._

_“Ya know, ya’ve been actin’ weird lately. Ya're not yaself.”_

_Henry kept smiling as he replied._

_“What are you talking about Trevor? Of course I've been myself!”_

_“Ya’re different Henry. Ya’re just so happy all the time…it's not natural.”_

_Henry's smile dimmed just a tiny bit._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Henry, ya're actin’ more toon than human.”_

_“...What?”_

Henry jerked awake as the dream ended. He sat up and rubbed his face. No way he was going back to sleep after that. He dragged himself out of his bed and into the nearest bathroom. He splashed water onto his face and looked in the mirror. A very human face peered back at him.

It was only a matter of time though before even that wasn't even there anymore. It would only get worse from here on out and he could do nothing to stop it. Henry banged a fist on the sink's counter. He was just so tired of it all. Wouldn't it just be easier to just give in? Did his identity as a human really mean that much to him? He was just _so tired_.

Henry perked up after a moment. Maybe, maybe he was onto something. He doubted he could go back to being fully human at this point. Really, what if he just _let it happen_. No resistance, just giving in. Letting go of his past self. At that thought, he quickly shook his head.

Wait, no, he wasn't just going to let go of who he was, that wasn't okay. Henry was ready though to accept his fate. Maybe being a toon wouldn't be that bad. He wondered if Joey had ever gotten his “anonymous” donation the other day. He smirked. He was definitely punching Joey the next time he saw him and putting him through the wringer a bit, but…he could forgive him now.

“Time to find out what being a toon is like I guess.” Henry muttered.

He knew that this wasn't over completely. He would probably doubt himself multiple times in the days to come, but really...he was finally accepting this new part of himself.

Whenever changes happened in life, you didn't just kick your old self or whatever it was out to the curb. No, you took something new and you took something old and made something wonderful out of them together that the world had never seen before.

Henry sighed. It was great that he was no longer at war with himself as much, but he really needed to talk to Trevor. He owed him an apology.

 

Trevor frantically searched the cabinet. They couldn’t be out again? Right? He had just gotten some more the other day! He double checked the drawers to the right of him. Yep, they were out, again. His eyes narrowed.

“Henry!”

“What?” called a voice from upstairs.

“Did ya eat all the extra ink again?”

“No!”

“Henry!”

“What?”

“Then where is it?”

“Well, I know I used some to refill my fountain pen. I keep running out!”

“...Henry, are ya suckin' on ya pens again?”

“...”

“Henry!”

“What?”

“...I’m comin' up.”

Trevor dashed upstairs while he heard Henry scrambling to close his door. He beat Henry to the door just barely. He shoved himself in between the door and the door frame and looked at Henry’s desk before Henry could shut the door on him. Empty cartridges littered the desk along with a few finished comic book pages. Trevor sighed at the sight.

“Henry, ya know that I need ta use those ta. Ya’re not the only one with work ta do.”

Henry had the decency to look sheepish before opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a few full cartridges. Trevor raised an eyebrow and shook his head. He swiped the cartridges from Henry’s hand.

“So ya been hoardin’ ‘em eh?”

“Maybe…”

Trevor ran a hand through his hair.

“Ya’re such a problem child, ya know that Henry? Whatever, I’ll get some more tomorrow. These should hold me over until then.”

“Oh Trevor, it was my fault! I should go grab some…”

Henry trailed off before stopping.

“Never mind...I need to...I need to go finish a page. I’m almost done and the deadline’s approaching anyways…”

Henry slumped sullenly and headed back towards his desk when he was suddenly attacked from behind. With a hug.

“Hey, Moppy McMoppington, stop that! I don’t care about no stinkin’ cartridges! I care about ya, not ‘em!”

Henry giggled at the name before sliding out of Trevor’s grasp and turning around only to return the favor.

“Thank you Trevor, thank you…” Henry whispered.

Trevor responded by only hugging harder.

 

Henry discovered another rather unfortunate condition caused by his circumstances one afternoon. He was trying to fix a leaky sink, but no matter what he did, nothing seemed to work. Henry finally kicked the pipe out of frustration and cursed at it. Or rather tried to curse at it.

Instead, all that came out was the sound of a car horn. Henry, of course, tried to curse again and sounded for a lack of a better term, like a squeaky toy. Soon noises from bicycle horns to sirens filled the house. Eventually, though, it fell silent as Henry began to accept the fact that he couldn't curse anymore.

Henry just sighed and resigned himself to his fate. Honestly, he really shouldn’t even be surprised anymore with all the whatnot that happened to him on a daily basis these days. Amazingly, the kick had fixed the sink.

He decided to not look the gift horse in the mouth and cleaned up his tools. There were some things that were just better left alone. A few moments later, one last bike horn rang out through the house as Henry bumped his head against a door frame on his way out of the room.

 

Trevor tried not to laugh at Henry's predicament. He really did. As soon as he saw Henry’s face though, he lost it.

“I see fixin’ the sink went well.” he managed to sputter out between snickers.

Henry just grumbled in reply while Trevor smiled at his response.

“Ah, is someone censored now?”

Henry looked up and frowned at Trevor.

“I know what you're trying to do Trevor and I'm not falling for it.”

“Sure ya won't,” replied Trevor as he went back to reading his book.

“Trevor, how *kazoo* dare you…” started Henry.

Trevor's face had the smuggest look on it before his burst out into laughter once more. Henry simply looked annoyed.

“Trevor, this isn't *cars wheels squealing* funny! Stop laughing you *foghorn* jerk!”

The only problem was that Henry's antics just made Trevor laugh even harder.

“I'm *squeaky toy* done with you.” declared Henry before storming out of the room.

Trevor laughed so hard at the fact that Henry had just sounded like a squeaky toy he fell out of his chair. As Henry stormed out of the room, a small smile grew on his face. It had been an  _interesting_ development. Soon his laughter joined Trevor's.


	5. The Times Are A-Changin'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, here are the updates I promised. Been sick with the flu, but I am back if not a tad tired. I'll talk more on the last note section. Hope you all are doing well.

“Shhh! You don't want her to hear you!”

“You're one to talk!”

“Exactly! Now, shhh!”

They snuck closer to a figure singing in front of a music stand. A board squeaked under the weight of their approach.

“You know boys, if you really want to sneak up on someone, you'll need to be a lot quieter.”

Alice turned around to look at the Bendy and Boris. Boris sheepishly waved while Bendy pouted.

“If you guys really want to have some fun, I got an idea.”

“And what would that be darlin’?”

Alice pulled out a bowling ball out from behind her and smirked.

“This maybe?”

Bendy smiled.

“A game of King of the Hill bowling style would be very welcome. You're on.”

Boris whooped. “Let's get this ball rolling!”

Alice’s smirk widened.

“With pleasure.”

 

“Morons, the whole lot of them.”

“My feelings exactly.”

Lacie looked up from the pipe she was fixing and wiped her brow.

“And you are?”

“Bertrum Piedmont...at your service.”

Lacie quirked an eyebrow.

“Bertie, must you be so dramatic?”

“I told you never to call me that Lace!”

“Lace! You know I hate that stupid nickname!”

“The feeling is mutual,  _dear.”_

Lacie stood up and rested a hand on Bertrum's shoulder.

“Oh honey...you just couldn't keep away could you?”

“My dear fiancee, how could I possibly leave you alone?”

Bertrum leaned forward and kissed Lacie on her lips.

“I missed you, but what are you doing here? I thought you were handling the Karling Case?”

“I am, but an old friend of mine called in a favor.”

Lacie pulled back and looked at her fiance.

“What favor?”

“Something about a Mr. Joey Drew.”

 

It had all happened very suddenly. A normal day, peaceful as they came. It started with a phone call. The world stopped for someone that day, but it restarted. In reverse.

Joey was not often seen crying. It was a rather rare occurrence. Today warranted it though. Once again, it had started with a single phone call that was put through to Joey Dee's extended line.

“This is Joey Drew Studios, Mr. Drew speaking... Yes, those are their names... What? .............I am on my way.”

Joey rushed out of his office after slamming the phone down. He ran towards the music department and ran up to the projector booth.

“Sammy! Norman! You're in charge! I need to go!”

The two men looked up from their lunches. Joey looked frantic and agitated. Tears were beginning to leak from Joey's eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, Joey, what's wrong?!”

“M-my parents...they're in the hospital!”

Norman and Sammy looked at each other.

“Sammy, go get Jack. He’s driving Mr. Drew to the hospital. I will grab Susie, Allison, and Thomas and see if they can make some food for them. Mr. Drew, me and Sammy will hold down the fort here. Don't worry about the studio. Go see your parents.”

Joey's hands trembled, but he nodded. Sammy had already dashed off and was soon back with Jack in tow. Jack grabbed Joey's arm.

“Which hospital are they at?”

“The one near Tempo! The Oriole Hospital!”

“Got ya. Let's go!”

They were gone so fast that Jack almost lost his hat. It actually fell off his head, but a hand shot out from behind the closing door and snatched the hat off the ground.

If he had a leather jacket and bullwhip, he might have been mistaken for someone else. Norman turned to Sammy.

“Sammy, don't say anything to anyone. I am going to talk to your wife about making some food to bring to Joey for dinner and for tomorrow. I am also ensuring that she enlists the help of Thomas and Allison. I need you to go to Joey's office and grab the paperwork on the desk. Drop it by Grant's office. He'll know what to do. Afterward, we will meet back here and regroup.”

Sammy sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I will ask Wally to keep an eye on Bendy and them. Joey usually helps with that.”

“Ah, good thinking Sammy.”

With that, the two men split up to do their respective tasks.

 

Joey paced the floor of the waiting room. His parents were still unconscious, but they were both still alive. His stepfather had been driving when another car had t-boned them at an intersection. They had proceeded to roll off the road and into a tree. The results had been horrifying.

The doctors had already let him know that they would live, but their lifestyles would be drastically altered. His stepfather was most likely paralyzed from the waist down due to the spinal damage he had suffered.

His mother was a completely different story. Her head had been dealt several heavy blows. They weren't sure what she would be like when she woke up.

If only he could do something to help. If only he could heal them both somehow. If only... There was a way though. He considered it for a moment. He had gotten better as time had gone on so he knew he could do it.

He entertained the thought for a moment before remembering something. Or rather someone. _Henry._ The reason why he was so careful now. The reason why he hesitated before he did something.

He didn't know if what he had done to his friend had affected him (Joey _knew_ that wasn't true). So he stopped.

He promised himself like some many times before that he wouldn't ever do it again without someone's complete and voluntary permission. He promised himself he wouldn't change someone without having a way to change them back. He promised himself there wouldn't be another Henry.

Once was enough. Joey had many mistakes over his lifetime, but that one had been the worst. With that, he abandoned the idea quickly and resumed his pacing. For now, he could only hope.

 

Lacie counted to ten. She breathed in and out.

“What the _heck_ is all of _this?”_

Bendy daintily backed away from the wreckage that was the toy department. Boris and Alice peeked out from behind a pile of stuffed animals in the distance. They both gave him a thumbs up. He glared in their direction before looking fearfully at Lacie.

 _“You,_ you did _this!”_

Bendy eeped before hightailing it out of the room with Lacie right behind him. When the room was empty, Boris and Alice snuck out from behind the pile.

“I think we're good now.” whispered Boris.

“I wouldn't be too sure about that.” growled someone behind them. They both slowly turned around.

Thomas Connor stood over them with a wrench gripped in one hand and resting on the other. He was smiling with a gleam in his eye. Boris gulped.

“Run!” yelled Alice as they got the heck out of Dodge with Thomas on their heels.

After their exit, Sean walked into the room. He glanced around before turning around and leaving.

“Not going to ask.” he muttered before deciding to extend his lunch break.

Later that day, a funeral was held for the studio’s finances. Grant did the eulogy and the music piece that Sammy included was one of his best.

Overall, it was very touching. Even Norman was crying by the end of it. It was honestly hard to tell. He kept talking about how his eyes were sweating or something of the like.

 

In the weeks that followed, there was a shift in the studio. Joey was seen less and less. Bertrum was often helping with the management roles that Joey had previously filled.

More people pitched in with helping watch the toons allowing deeper bonds to be forged between all of them. Word soon got out about what had happened to Joey's parents despite no formal announcements being made. No one ever figured out the source.

Decisions were made by Joey as well. The show had been running for many years now and had gathered quite the audience of all ages. Joey decided as he was about to become his disabled parents' main caregiver that it was time for it all to end.

He let everyone know and instead of the backlash he was expecting, everyone was very understanding. Even the toons themselves were once they had learned of the situation.

Preparations were made. People started finding new jobs, yet many of them stuck around in other ways. The toons continued to stay at the studio so people like Norman, Sammy, and Jack would visit them. Wally, Thomas, and Lacie helped clean and kept things into running order in their free time.

So many people assisted in whatever way they could. Joey almost died from the generosity that everyone showed. Henry was informed of the situation through a letter from Sammy, but that was all.

In fact, one of the only reminders of the old animator in the studio was a half-finished letter from Joey to his old friend in a corner of one of his desk drawers. All, but forgotten in the chaos.


	6. Curiosity Killed the Henry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next part, though, it's a bit later than when I was expecting to post it. The next one is actually interesting because instead of switching to writing about what is happening with everyone at the studio, it focuses on Henry and company again. I just felt like it would flow better if I did it that way, but the last part will be focusing on Joey and everyone else.

Henry smiled to himself as he headed to the kitchen. He had just gotten off the phone with Edward. He said he was doing well and that his daughter, Erin, was now about to enter junior high.

She was very fond of her Uncle Henry and Trevor even if one of them looked “mighty strange” as she called it. She sometimes talked about the drills they had to do at school and the “Duck and Cover” video they had to watch. Not the mention, the neighbors talked about building bomb shelters.

Trevor had described it as "none of his stinkin’ business" and wanted nothing more to do with it all. Still though, rumors of the Cold War were circulating. He shook his head. Honestly, he didn't know what to say about it all, but it was a good reminder that there was a bigger world outside of his own little corner.

Humming with music notes following his lead, he strolled about gathering up some ingredients for a nice ham sandwich. He frowned as he saw the mint green refrigerator that Trevor had picked out.

After coming back from the war, they had pooled together their money and had gone about updating the home. Sara has upkept it while he was away, but few things needed to be taken care of. Henry's heart twinged at the reminder and he glared at the fridge.

He was not fond of the color and Trevor had somehow gotten his hands on a mint colored Hawaiian shirt for Henry's birthday as a joke. It stayed buried at the bottom of his drawer so Henry didn't have to look at that convolution of nature.

He didn't wear clothes much now anyway. It just felt _strange._ He did whenever he left the house, but while home, he preferred not too. With the ham and swiss cheese block in hand, he headed over the counter and nabbed a plate from a nearby cabinet.

Trevor had just gotten the cheese the other day and it hadn't been used so at least it wasn't going to dry out quite yet. Henry then proceeded to spend 5 minutes trying to separate a slice from the block.

“Convenient my butt.” muttered Henry.

He finally tore it off and proceeded to facepalm. He needed bread. Sighed, he grabbed what he needed from the breadbox and got back to it. Such a ridiculous amount of effort for a sandwich.

He finally cut it in two, cleaned up, and was heading for the table when a thought struck him. Where had that knife come from? He had been making the sandwich when he had realized he needed to go get a knife. It had seemingly appeared out of nowhere when he realized he needed one. All he had done was reach behind his back and…

Henry stopped when he perceived something. He thought of wanting a pen and reached behind his back again. He felt around a bit before his fingers closed around something. He carefully pulled it out. It was a pen.

Henry stood there stunned before he discerned what was happening. Bendy, Boris, and all of them had the ability to seemingly pull objects out of nowhere in their cartoons. He tried to remember what it was called. He stroked his chin for a moment. Suddenly he recalled it. It was called hammerspace!

Henry cringed at the thought. He was starting to get used to the random light bulbs, question marks, and other expressive marks that kept appearing around him, but now this… He breathed in and out slowly and placed the plate on the table.

Henry took the pen in his hand and set off to find his drawing pad. Drawing always helped him take his mind off of things. Soon doodles filled the pad as he munched on the sandwich and was thankful to not be throwing it back up.

He glanced over the mail that he had claimed from the mailbox. Bills and a few letters. He laid the bills aside before glancing at the letters. One was from Sammy and the other was from...his mother.

His father had passed away during the war and he had never been able to attend the funeral. He did visit his grave though once in a while. Despite everything, he missed him. He opened the letter from Sammy and began reading it.

A moment later, he was headed out the door with a jar labeled “The Joey Fund” and a note left on the table for Trevor. The letter from his mother lay there unopened. Inside was a letter detailing several things...including how she and his siblings planned on visiting soon.

 

Henry knocked on the front door and waited for an answer. The door was soon opened by a young woman.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes, I was wondering if you would like to contribute to the Joey fund?” Henry replied with a straight face.

The woman stared at him for a moment.

“What the heck is that?”

“It is a fund for helping Joey.”

The woman blinked.

“Um, okay, but why does this Joey need funds?”

“You’ll be making my friend’s dreams and schemes come true. That's why.”

The woman processed what Henry said for a moment before taking out her wallet and handed Henry a few dollar bills.

“Here, make your friend’s dreams and schemes come true.” the woman said before she started muttering to herself.

Henry caught the words “why am I doing this” before she shut the door. He shrugged, put the money in a jar, and moved on to the next house.

 

Henry stumbled into his house exhausted. It had been a long day. Trevor had been rather sick lately so he had to go to the store and rub other errands in his stead. The only problem though was his current condition.

The ink had claimed all of his torso finally leaving behind a lovely ensemble of formal wear. It had stopped at his lower neck for now. The only thing left was his head thus his current predicament.

He had spent the whole day not only getting things done but hiding what had become of his body as well. A trench coat, gloves, and boots help hide things. Thank the Lord it was winter. He was now ready to crawl into bed and sleep till the cows came home.

Henry quickly slid out of the coat and other gear much to his relief. Sure, it felt weird to be naked in a sense, but he had gotten used to it. He grabbed the groceries and shopping bags he had brought home with him and headed for the kitchen.

He turned the corner and came to a sudden stop as he spotted...his siblings? His sister dropped the silverware she was holding with a clang while his brother stopped reaching for a bowl. They stared at each other for a moment before his sister screamed.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” she screeched.

Henry quickly turned around and dashed back around the corner he had come from. His thoughts flashed to the unread letter from his mother. He probably should have read that, but with everything going on, he had never gotten around to it.

Trying to raise money to help Joey, his own transformation, and finally, Trevor getting sick. Henry was pulled from his thoughts as he heard someone else's footsteps entering the kitchen soon after he left.

“Is everyone alright? I heard someone screaming.”

It was his mother. Henry dropped the bags to the ground and hugged himself. He could hear them talking.

“What the heck was that thing?”

“I don't know…”

“What thing?”

“It was...it looked like _Henry?”_

“...”

Henry groaned. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse.

“They can't see me like this and especially not her…”

_“Henry?”_

Henry looked up from his muttering. His family was standing there staring at him. They had probably overhead him, it wasn't like he had gone far. They stared at each other again, but no one screamed this time.

“Hi…” he started before trailing off.

His mother looked as if she was about to say something, but stopped.

“Grace, help your brother put up the groceries. Lewis, come with me and we'll finish making that soup for Trevor.”

The spell was broken. Everyone started moving again, kicked into gear by his mother's words. His siblings kept staring at him disbelievingly. Henry cautiously picked up a few of the bags again while Grace grabbed the rest.

He felt her stare on his back as they walked back towards the kitchen. Nothing was said as they put the items away with Henry helping her when she couldn't figure out where something went. Lewis and his mother had left the kitchen a few minutes before with the soup that they said they had made for Trevor.

“So…” Grace tried.

“It's... it's a long story…one I'd rather not tell twice.”

“...if you say so Hanky Panky.”

Henry's face immediately turned a bright shade of red. He glared at his sister.

“I told you never to call me that again! You know what it means!” he sputtered.

Grace smirked at him and some of the tension seeped out of the room.

“You told me never to call you that in public again. Look around Hanko. Doesn't look very public to me.”

Henry stared at her disbelievingly before a black tick mark appeared on his forehead. Grace managed not to notice it as she was looking away at the moment.

“What the *honk* Grace!”

Grace whipped around at the sound while Henry quickly covered his mouth. Things were just going downhill at this point. She looked like she was about to say something before shutting her mouth. She squinted before frowning.

“Well...even if you don't want to tell me the story...can you at least tell me what the heck you are wearing? You look like you're about to go to a freaking dinner party.”

Henry blinked before sighing.

“I am wearing enchanted ink if you must know or at least that's what I think it is. Apparently, I am mostly made of the stuff these days. Any other ridiculous questions?”

Well...just one…”

Too quick for Henry to react, Grace reached over and squished his arm.

“I knew it! You _are_ squishy!”

Henry just stared at Grace before moaning.

“Why does _everyone_ keep doing _that?”_

“...Trevor mentioned earlier that you might be _different._ Wouldn't go into detail. He also mentioned though that you were squishy!”

“When I get my hands on Trevor later…” grumbled Henry.

Grace tilted her head while looking at him before grinning.

“You know, you look a little different, well maybe a bit more than a little, but you're still my crazy older brother who I know and love.”

Henry felt warmth bloom in his chest before smiling.

“Let's finish putting these groceries away and then we'll go see that crazy best friend of mine. Sound good?”

“Sounds awesome.” said Grace while beaming back.

 

Though his family hadn’t pushed for anymore information yet (His mother saw to that), he knew he needed to tell them the story soon. They were being very patient with him about it  all and were waiting for him to open up about it on his own time.

In the meantime, Henry had been roped into the lovely job of helping his mother update her house along with his other siblings. Trevor had also “willingly” come. Honestly, his mother didn't care what he looked like as long as he could work, he was helping.

With that in mind, Trevor and Henry were moving a couch into the living room while Lewis, his mother, and Grace were elsewhere in the house. They reached the living room and were putting the couch down when one of the corners slipped out of Trevor's hand.

The couch dipped and proceeded to land on Henry's foot. Surprisingly, there was no pain and Henry cautiously lifted the couch. The sight they saw underneath was honestly a bit _disturbing._

“Did ya know ya foot could do that?”

Henry stared at his flattened body part.

“...nope...how do I fix it?”

Trevor stared as well.

“Uh...well...I guess...ya could shake it?”

Henry raised an eyebrow before shrugging. He carefully finished lowering the couch to the ground with Trevor's help. Bracing against the wall, he stretched out his leg and shook his limp foot. It seemed to blur for a moment before going back to normal.

“That was _weird.”_ summed up Trevor.

He looked more closely at one of Henry's legs. They seemed a bit... _floppy._

“So...ya don’t have elbows or knees anymore either?”

Henry sighed.

“Pretty much. I literally have noodle arms now.”

Trevor blinked at the statement before he burst out laughing. Henry shook his arms around for emphasis and they made floppy noodle noises. Trevor died of laughter and went to heaven at the sight.

“Woooooo! Noodle arms!” cried Henry.

Tears ran down Trevor face as Henry grinned before getting a gleam in his eyes. His lifted one of his legs and shook it around.

“Oh look...noodle legs!”

Trevor completely lost it and fell to the floor in defeat while holding his sides. Henry started chuckling himself while his mother came into the room to see what the commotion was. She took one look at the situation before turning around and heading back the way she came.

_Not today._

With that, she went back to sorting through some clothes.

 

Later, Henry was helping with unpacking a few boxes when his mother hollered to him.

“Hey Henry, could you help Grace with the painting?”

“Sure!”

Henry headed down to help his sister paint the new room.

“Grace? Can I come in?”

“Sure Hanko!”

Henry just sighed.

“Hey, could you hand me that bottle on the floor?”

“Sure!”

His sister was currently on a ladder painting some of the higher portions of the room. Henry grabbed the bottle and was handing it to his sister. She put her paintbrush between her teeth and reached for the bottle, but it slipped from her fingers.

Unfortunately, the lid wasn't on very tightly so it fell off as the bottle began its descent to the ground. Henry rushed to catch it. Soon a scream rang out in the room along with a steady stream of black liquid onto the sheets that covered the floor.

Henry was biting his lip trying to keep quiet, but black tears slid down his face. His hands were ruined and he finally got a look at the label on the bottle. It was acetone.

His sister had turned to look at where the scream had come from and stared at what remained of his hands. She quickly tore down the ladder.

“Are you okay?! What happened to your hands?!”

“The bottle…” he started before stopping.

The pain was fading, but it still stung. Grace stooped down to pick up the bottle.

“Wait, it's…”

Liquid flew through the air and landed on Henry's chest. He doubled over as the wound began gushing out ink.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

“Henry!”

Grace dropped the bottle and steadied her brother. The action caused acetone to start soaking the sheets near Henry's feet. He felt a burning sensation on his soles. Henry began swaying as he felt rather light headed.

“P-please...get me out of h-here…”

Grace nodded and tucked her arms under her brother's armpits and dragged him out of the room and into the hall. She noticed the black trail that they left in their wake.

Henry was propped up against the wall. He seemed to have collapsed as soon as they had made it out. Whimpering could be heard coming from him. Ink leaked steadily from his soles, wrists, and chest.

“Crap…I don't know what to do!”

She stood for a moment before running back into the room. She carefully grabbed dry and unmarked sheets. Grace ran back into the hall and started tearing them into strips. She took the makeshift bandages and wrapped them around Henry's wounds.

“Mom! Mom, I need you over here!”

Footsteps echoed as their mother came down the steps and hall over to where they were. She took one look at Grace’s scared face and Henry's condition.

“I'm getting Trevor.”

She ran back up the steps heading for the garage.

“Ink…I need ink…” Henry rasped out.

“What?”

Grace's head whipped around.

“Ink…I need to...rep-plenish…”

Henry's words faded out as he coughed. Ink dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Grace gasped before frantically trying to think where they kept the spare ink cartridges. In the desk upstairs!

“Henry, just hang on! I'll be right back!”

She raced down the hall, up the stairs, and into her father's old study. Grace yanked open a drawer and grabbed a box. She closed the drawer and tore her way back through the house towards her brother. She fell to her knees as she moved in front of him. His eyes were half lidded, but focused on her.

“I need…I need to d-drink…”

“Alright, buddy. Got ya!”

Grace opened a cartridge and shoved it into Henry's mouth. He tilted his head and began to swallow the ink. It was emptied quickly and Grace replaced it with another one. And another.

Soon they had gone through most of the box. Footsteps echoed through the house, but there seemed to be two sets of them this time. Her mother and Trevor appeared much to her joy.

“Oh Lord Henry...this is bad!”

Trevor quickly kneeled by Henry as soon as he was close enough and pulled out a pen.

“How is that…”

Trevor looked at Grace which immediately shut her up.

“Ya'll see.” he said cryptically as he pulled off the makeshift bandages.

He focused on the chest wound first and began crosshatching it as fast as he could. It was a sloppy job, but did the trick for the moment as the torrent slowed to a trickle.

He went for the wrists next and soon the rough outlines of oversized gloves appeared. Finally, Trevor worked on his feet doing another rushed crosshatching job.

The flow of ink was extremely weak now, barely even there. Henry's eyes were closed and he finally looked at peace. The hall was silent as the urgency of the situation finally wore off.

“So...how exactly did this happen?”

“Yea, same…”

“Oh my gosh! Look!”

Everyone turned to look at what Grace was pointing at. She was pointing at Henry. Before their eyes, streaks of his hair were turning black with an unnatural shine to it.

White splotches appeared on his cheeks while a series of black letter Z's formed above his head. As quickly as it had began, the process finished. Trevor ran his fingers through his hair at the sight.

Henry wasn't going to like this. He might have become more accepting of his nature, but his face...it was one of the last things he had besides his mind.

“Can someone please explain to me what just happened?”

Trevor blinked and looked at Rebecca Stein.

“Okay…well, I think Grace should start with her part and then I'll finish. I know Henry was supposed to tell ya, but I think y'all have waited long enough.”

Grace nodded.

“Sounds good to me. Let's get this story rolling. The next twenty minutes were spent informing the various friends and relatives of Henry's spectacular luck and transformation in further detail. Overall, it was quite something.

“I am going to murder Joey Drew next time I see him.”

“Welcome ta the club.” muttered Trevor. “Ya’ll need ta get in line though. I started it “

“With pleasure.” stated Rebecca with a terrifying grin.

“There's nothing that can be done though?” inquired Grace.

“Yep... he's been like this before he even joined the war. It's been progressin’ since. We've tried just about everythin’ we could think of ta stop it and we were successful for a while, but then it started up again. Henry kind of just accepted it and decided not ta try anythin’ else since then.”

“Wow…I mean, I thought I'd heard everything earlier, but this? Lord, what happened to my poor brother?”

“Joey Drew did, that's what.”


	7. Blood Is Thicker Than Ink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are! Thank you to everyone who has commented and given kudos! It always warms my heart. The next chapter is focusing back on the studio as I said before. After that, we will finally be moving on to the main storyline. Have a great week everyone!

“How’s he doing?”

“...A bit betta…he’s been relapsin’ though.”

Henry tossed and turned in his bed as he caught snippets of the conversation drifting up from downstairs. The whole acetone incident had really screwed him over.

He had been doing better. No flashbacks for moments, a few nightmares, but between the medicine, time, and his natural optimism, he had been doing well. Then _it_ had happened and it had been... _horrifying._

Trevor had even relapsed himself a bit and it had been bad enough for them to go to their appointment with Edward’s brother two weeks early! He had helped them reconnect with the therapist they had seen for a while when things had been really bad.

Their therapist had seemed surprised though. He had expected them to apparently be much worse off after they described what had happened. The psychiatrist had theories about it.

Since Trevor hadn't been through the... _events_ that Henry had been subjected to and had only experienced the aftermath of them, he had been... _protected. Not_ much, but enough that it mattered.

Edward, who had come with them that time, offered his own thoughts on what was going on with Henry. Apparently, his... _toon side_ was protecting him.

He had pointed out that most cartoons had characters being happy as the default mood. It would make sense if Henry was a similar case. Henry had not been thrilled with the idea. His body was one thing, but his mind?

“Dadgummit…”

Henry realized he wasn't going to get any more rest. He slipped out of the bed and avoided looking in the mirror on the way out. There will some things to work through there.

 

Henry turned the car off and rushed over to the passenger side. He reverently pulled the door open and stood at attention.

“Announcing the arrival of Lady Trevoria.”

Trevor scowled at Henry from his seat while Henry only winked back.

“Ya’re goin’ ta pay for that.”

Henry grinned.

“Oh? Has Lady Trevoria encountered a spot of bother? How may I assist you, my lady?”

Trevor's eye twitched.

“Please speak up, my lady. I cannot hear you over the sound of your magnificent beauty.”

“That's it!”

Henry vacated the scene with hoots of laughter as Trevor leaped out and slammed the car door before charging after him. Henry made it to the front door and fled inside with Trevor hot on his heels.

“What in tarnation…” Lewis exclaimed.

Lewis had been passing by the front door with a box in his hands when suddenly Henry came barreling through. He jerked himself out of the way, but unfortunately, Trevor ran into him instead. They collapsed into a heap of hopelessness and ridicule. Henry might have escaped the pileup, but he wasn't off the hook.

“Henry Ross Stein! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Rebecca stormed into the room with an air of authority and an aura of terror. He seemed sheepish at her words before smirking. A glint appeared in his eyes.

“I was escorting Lady Trevoria from her carriage after a tiresome journey.”

Henry's mother looked stunned for a moment. As she processed his words, she tried to hide her smile rather unsuccessfully. She eyed the scene of Lewis and Trevor disentangling themselves from each other. Rebecca decided to add in her own two cents.

“Does Lady Trevoria need my assistance as well?”

Lewis looked at his mother in surprise at her words before glancing at Trevor. Understanding dawned on his face while Trevor was turning a rather nice shade of red. He pointed at Rebecca first.

“Ya, ya should’ve known betta! How could ya? I've been betrayed!”

He turned to Henry next.

“Ya! Ya know what ya are? Ya’re a stinkin’ acorn! A painted maypole!”

“Has he been reading Shakespeare again?’ Rebecca whispered.

Henry nodded.

“Yea, he loves him. Bawled his eyes out the other day when he finished reading _Romeo and Juliet._ I love him. I prefer Agatha Christie though. Give me a good mystery novel any day.”

Trevor’s tirade lasted for a few more minutes with insults such as “you mangled scallop” and “you crusty botch of nature” being thrown around. The creativity of them was quite impressive.

“Finally, You insensitive buttwipe! ...I think that about wraps it up.” finished Trevor.

Lewis let out a low whistle as he wandered off with the box in his arms. He shook his head in amazement. Henry and Rebecca stood off to the side in awe. Trevor seemed quite pleased with himself as he caught their expressions.

He headed towards the living room with his nose in the air with Rebecca and Henry trailing behind. They all made themselves comfortable while Lewis’s hammering echoed in the background.

“I see the renovations are progressing well. Trevor and I can continue helping out later if you want.” Henry offered.

“Thank you. I would greatly appreciate that. Are you sure you are both good though?”

“We are.” added Trevor.

“Question though, where's Grace?” asked Henry.

“She's off enjoying her Boston marriage right now.”

“Ah, ya know, Henry and I still need to meet her sometime. Probably not a good idea for me ta bring Arlene though if we did. I don't how she’d react. It's good ta see that ya're open-minded though.”

Rebecca smiled before settling her hands in her lap and looked directly at Henry.

“I want to make something clear. I don't care what form you adopt or what you look like, you will always be my son and are always welcome in my house. I know there may be some who aren't as accepting of your new form but know that you will be never turned away by me. Your siblings have agreed as much. Grace would be fine if you ever needed to stay with her and Jessica. Lewis has said you are welcome at his house as well though his wife has been less than friendly about the news of what's happening to you I'm afraid.”

She leaned over and locked eyes with Trevor.

“That goes for you too buster. You are always welcome here and don't you forget it!”

“Yes ma'am!” the two men replied simultaneously.

“Good then.”

Rebecca's gaze softened.

“I know you already know that Trevor has told us what happened. We informed Lewis of your circumstances fully as well. You have also made it clear that you want to deal with Joey yourself…”

She cleared her throat.

“That being said, if he ever does anything as stupid as this to you or Trevor ever again, _may God help his soul.”_

Henry scooted closer to Trevor and they huddled together as they felt the heat of Rebecca's anger.

_Poor Joey._

“There was a reason why I asked you here though.”

Henry causally moved away from Trevor again as the danger had passed.

“It's about Sara.”

Henry felt a weight on his chest.

“W-what about Sara?”

Rebecca sighed.

“I know these is a hard subject for you, but please bear with me. As you know, Sara died of pancreatic cancer while you were away. There was something else that happened though involving her… She was pregnant at the time with your child.”

The world stopped.

“... _Pregnant?”_

“Yes… She found out she had cancer

shortly after. At first, it was only in her pancreas. But then it spread and turned malignant…”

_“No… Please don't say it…”_

“She miscarried the baby as a result.”

Henry felt a few black tears slip down his cheeks as he curled up his fists. Trevor laid a hand on his shoulder.

“H-how do y-you know?”

“I visited her while it was all happening. You know how distant her family was. They practically disowned her after she married you… We helped care for her at the time and made her comfortable. I was t-there the night she received the news. S-she had been so excited to tell you…”

Rebecca stopped and tried to blink away her own tears. Henry shut his eyes as a hand of agony gripped his heart. Trevor and Rebecca stood up and sat down beside Henry.

Together, they enveloped him in a large hug determined to crush the pain that encased his heart. Sobs echoed throughout the room and tears flowed freely.

“We had names picked out…”

“What?”

Rebecca pulled away slightly at Henry's words.

“W-we had...n-names…”

Trevor began rubbing Henry's back.

“If they w-were a boy, we were going to c-call them Liam… If they h-had been a girl, we were g-going to call them Linda…”

Rebecca stroked Henry's head and smiled.

“Sara named them L. Henry Stein. Because “they were strong like their father.””

Henry felt more tears fall and grinned despite himself.

“That...s-sounds wonderful.”

A moment of silence followed before being broken by Trevor.

“I’m sure that ya would’ve made a great dad Henry.”

Henry looked at Trevor before tightly hugging him. He felt as if his heart would burst.

“I apologize for waiting so long to tell you. I wanted to give you some space to heal after the incident…”

Henry let go of the embrace and smiled at his mother.

“You’re f-fine. I appreciate y-you thinking of me.”

Trevor spoke up again.

“Ya know...it's never not okay ta miss ‘em. People may try ta tell ya that they don't matter, but they do. Just don't let it overwhelm ya. Ya need ta make sure ya stick ta the present and don't go wanderin’ 'round in the past ta much. They matter…but there is more ta life than death. Never forget that.”

“Trevor...that was beautiful.” whispered Henry.

Trevor blushed before becoming somber.

“As shucks, I was just speakin’ my mind. My mom miscarried one of my siblings when I was younger and that's what she always said about the matter. Never forget, but don't get ta caught up in everthin’.”

Henry nodded in gratitude.

“Thank you for sharing… It really means a lot.”

They hugged one more time while Henry's mother wished she had a camera. The conversation eventually turned to more pleasant subjects and the atmosphere became lighter. Henry and Trevor assisted with the renovations a bit more before saying their goodbyes and heading home.

In the days that followed, Trevor was there for Henry as much as possible and his mother called him every day. Henry began to heal and took the first step down a new path. A few months later, Henry became an uncle to another niece, but this time by blood.

Lewis's wife had finally come around and was warming up to him. She had heard about what had happened with Sara so she chose to honor them by using one of the names they had chosen. Linda Rebekah Stein was born on a warm, spring afternoon to a loving family. Henry couldn't have been happier.

 

“Henry! Are ya done with ‘em pages yet? I need ta put this in the mailbox soon!”

“Just finished!” called out Henry as he barged down the stairs.

Trevor sighed and plucked the papers from Henry's hand and shoved them into the envelope. The poor thing was almost bursting at the seams with how full it was. Trevor had already added the stamps and addresses.

He had just been waiting on Henry. He sealed the envelope with a few licks and some generous shoving. Henry sighed at his antics. Trevor maturely stuck out his tongue out in reply before heading out the door.

“Mmmmmm….means that ya're grand…”

Trevor continued humming as he walked out to mailbox. He placed the letter into the mailbox raised the flag before smiling. He couldn't wait to tell Henry the good news. Arlene had said yes! He was about to close the mailbox when he saw a letter inside it.

It was yellowed and small with the words “Henry Stein” on the front. Raising an eyebrow, he grabbed and shut the mailbox. Come to think of it, he did owe Henry for the all help he given him with setting everything up for when he had asked Arlene to marry him.

Not to mention all the pep talks and advice he had given him as well. Trevor resolved to do something nice for Henry later as a thank you. He opened the front door after trekking up the gravel driveway.

“Hey, Henry! I got somethin’ for ya!”

Henry rushed into the foyer and grabbed the envelope from his hand. He raised an eyebrow as his friend began to open it. As Henry began to look at the letter, Trevor took a moment to study his friend properly. His form had finally finished about a month ago and it showed.

It was honestly a bit disconcerting to look at his friend these days. His proportions had been _strange_ for a few years now, but now that the process has finally tapered off...the end result was quite something.

The lack of a neck was probably the biggest change and after that would be his eyes. No pupil or iris...just a large dot with a slice taken out of it. His nose was so simplistic and his hair lacked detail. The worst part of all was Henry’s lack of color.

He was only in black, gray, and white tones now. The color had been leached from his body and he sometimes caught Henry looking out the window at the rainbow of a world around him before he would glance at himself and sigh.

Trevor honestly thought that Joey probably hadn’t meant to do this on purpose, but it happened anyway...and it cost Henry dearly. Trevor was drawn out of his thoughts as he noticed that Henry had stopped reading the letter and had a thoughtful expression.

That was another thing, Henry was ridiculously easy to read these days. His actions were so dramatic and it was as if he wore his heart on his sleeve. Did he even have a heart anymore? Come to think of it… Trevor decided not to finish that thought and approached Henry.

“Who’s it from?”

He was tempted to look over Henry’s shoulder but decided to be patient. There was a moment of silence before Henry replied.

“It’s from Joey. He wants me to come back to the studio to visit.”

Trevor’s mouth dropped open before anger flashed across his face.

“How dare that low down, stinkin’...”

He didn’t get to finish.

“I am going back...permanently.”

Trevor’s mouth dropped open again even further this time.

“Ya can’t be serious?”

Henry nodded.

“...But why? After what he did… Are ya absolutely sure?”

Henry smiled sadly and started walking toward the living room. Trevor followed.

“Yea...I have my reasons why as well. There are also a few things I wanted to talk about with you Trevor.”

Trevor paused for a moment before sitting down in a chair while Henry found a seat on the sofa.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately… About becoming _this..._ Joey...and...my future. First of all, I am pretty sure Arlene said yes to you, am I right?”

Trevor beamed at the reminder. Henry chuckled.

“I figured as much. Trevor, I am going to be frank with you. I can’t stay here anymore. People are starting to get suspicious at the way I am acting and how I don’t come outside very often. When I do, I am dressed in a strange way. I’ve heard them talking, mostly just gossip, but...I think a few of them might've gotten glimpses of my body somehow...and they aren’t having a positive reaction to it.”

Henry clasped his hands in front of him.

“I...I’ve stopped aging too Trevor… They’ve started to notice that too. I look too young...especially compared to you… You got a life of your own to live and I...I am going to be left behind…”

Trevor opened his mouth to protest, but Henry stopped him.

“I know this is not what you want to here, but it’s the truth. I am still going to be around, but I think it is time for out paths to split once more. You have a fiancee now. I want you to have my house. I need to work on some paperwork, but I am going to put it in your name. The land, all of that. I might take a few things with me, but...I don’t need much these days anyways now do I?  
Henry wore a lopsided grin while Trevor started to cry a bit.

“I want you to have everything in this house. I might put a few special items in a corner of the attic that I want to keep here, but the rest is yours. I don’t have a use for it anymore and I want you to have a good life with Arlene.”

Trevor couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up from his seat and ran over to Henry. He engulfed him in a hug and squeezed him tight.

“Please...I don’t want ya ta go!”

“I don’t want to go either Trevor, but...I have to. You know what though? You’ve been fantastic Trevor. Absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t trade the time I’ve spent with you for anything else in the entire universe.”

Trevor sniffled into Henry’s shoulder.

“But why go back? Why do ya want ta see _him_ again?”

“Well...I have tons of reasons for that specifically, but...I will only name a few. I’ve been expecting Joey to send me something like this for a while now. It’s a sign that he’s ready to talk even though it took him forever to make up his mind about it… It wasn’t completely his fault though… He’s been dealing with a lot on his own plate lately so I don't blame him for taking so long. I also want to find closure. If I have learned anything over my life so far, it’s that forgiveness is the answer. It is a gift we give ourselves. We are giving ourselves the okay that it’s alright to move on, it’s alright to let go. It is time to send away the hope that we can change the past. We acknowledge that yes, the past happened, but we no longer let it bind us. We can then look to the future and keep moving forward.”

Trevor finally let go of Henry and looked him in the eye.

“That was...that was beautiful Henry.”

Henry blushed with a bit of gray dusting his white cheeks.

“I also kinda miss the studio. I haven’t been there in so long… “

Trevor smirked.

“And there it is...the real reason ya want ta go back and leave me all by my lonesome. Oh, but the horror! I'll be deprived of my squishy!”

Henry rolled his eyes and shoved Trevor playfully. Trevor laughed before sobering up a bit.

“Ya know...I'll really miss ya…”

“I know Trevor... I will too.”

They embraced one last time before separating to each go his own way.

**Author's Note:**

> This part will be different from the last part as this part will be made up of a collection of ten one shots that are all loosely connected. Just thought you guys might want to know.


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